Sunday, December 17, 2006

I've had it with this crap!

I don't get it... I really don't have a clue what the f.ck causes the images i upload to keep on disappearing. I've put in quite a bit of work on the previous post in memory of Bronstein, creating diagrams and sh.t and they're all gone. I've been browsing through blogger's support pages (more then once) trying to find an answer, but i did not get any wiser. Only more frustrated. So frustrated i've decided to set up shop over at WordPress instead. Anyone who was interested in keeping up with my chess life should update my link on their sidebar with the following link: The Chess Of Edwin ‘dutchdefence’ Meyer. And for anyone who is interested in keeping up with my chess life, you should add it. Otherwise it is adios amigos, goodbye, au revoir, bonjour or whatever. It was fun while it lasted, but i've had it with this crap!

P.S. It will probably take some time for me to set up shop (and get accustomed to) over at WordPress, so bare with me.

This blog will be accesible at all times.

Update; If i'm correct, i've got the RSS feed set up (this is also in reply to Phorku's comment). I believe this is the feed for my entries. But you should check out the bottom of my new blog because you also got a feed for comments. I'm not really sure what's what yet. Try it out and let me know if it works.

Saturday, December 16, 2006

In memory of David Ionovich Bronstein

i bring to you the commented game i promised. The game to go along with this post. And what better way is there to remember him by, then to go over one of his beautifull games. A game that took place at the Amsterdam (the city i was born and raised) Interzonal in 1964 (i wasn't born yet then). In this game, Bronstein plays with the Black pieces against an Argentinian master by the name of Alberto Foguelman (this should be particularly interesting to those who play the QGA as Black).

{Bronstein plays a Queen's Gambit Accepted which at the time was not a particularly popular opening. But Bronstein was never a slave to fashion and played exactly what he wanted to and he had many original ideas.} 3. Nf3 {One of the main lines.} Nf6 {Sensible move. Prevents White from playing his pawn up to e4 and claim the center.} 4. e3

{Attacking the pawn on c4 (see variation for what happens when Black tries to hold on to the pawn by playing b5).} Bg4

{An old favourite of Alekhine. It should be noted that this move comes with a slight drawback, namely the weakening of the b7 pawn.} [Black tries to hold on to the c4 pawn; 4... b5 5. a4 c6 6. axb5 cxb5 7. b3 cxb3 8. Bxb5+] 5. Bxc4 e6 6. Qb3 {A slightly controversial move, but if there's any move that will take advantage of Black's opening play, Qb3 will be it. Because the White Queen attacks b7. But it's here that Black gets to put his opening idea intopractice. And that is the sacrifice of the b-pawn to get active play.} 6... Bxf3 {Black seeks to ruin White's Kingside} 7. gxf3 c5

{Undermining White's center. And having come this far, White must certainly take on b7 as White's center is about to disintegrate, unless White takes the pawn on b7.} 8. Qxb7 Nbd7 {Now it's time that White starts asking himself questions, like what is going on in this position. There's no obvious move as such, but he certainly should start asking himself what alternative do i have, and what are Black's threats in this position. And Foguelman probably determined that Black threatens to take on d4, thereby reducing White's pawn structure to ruble. But he doesn't quite appreciate that Black has serious attacking chances on the Kingside in this position. And Foguelman continued with} 9. dxc5 {Andrew Martin think's 9. Rg1 would be more apropriate, because the text move only speeds up Black's development.} 9... Bxc5 10. f4 O-O 11. O-O {Andrew Martin thinks this is too risky and prefers 11.Nc3 as a waiting event, or perhaps to play Queen to g2 (probably the best move of all). And with the Queen closeby to the Kingside, white can consider castling. Even perhaps consider playing Rg1. But if you play that move, ofcourse you then gonna have to worry about where to put your King. But to castle in this position seems incredibly risky because of Black's next excellent reply. Which White probably completely missed.} 11... Nd5

{Cutting the Queen off from the defense of her King. At first sight, it doesn't look as if that move is actually completely playable, because what is to stop White from actually taking the Knight (see variation for what happens then).} 12. Rd1 [White takes the Knight; 12. Bxd5 Rb8 13. Qa6 (13. Qc6 Rb6 14. Qa4 exd5) 13... exd5} 12... Rb8 13. Qc6 Qh4

{A very powerfull move according to A. Martin, sacrificing the Knight on d7 and a move which A. Martin think's Foguelman completely underestimated. He simply didn't appreciate a few moves ago, that his Queen was needed for the defense of his King.} 14. Nc3 {Desperately trying to get his pieces out (see variation for what happens when Queen takes Knight).} [Queen takes Knight; 14. Qxd7 Qg4+] 14... Rb6 15. Qxd7 Nxf4

{A brilliant but also very logical move by Bronstein. Because with all the White pieces concentrated on the queenside it is actually very important for Black to start action on the kingside while the white king is actually undefended.} 16. Ne2 {White seeks to defend his King but it's much too late for that now (see variation for what happens if White takes the Knight on f4 or plays his Bishop to f1).} [White takes Knight; 16. exf4 Qxf2+ 17. Kh1 Qf3#] [White plays Bishop to f1; 16. Bf1 Qg4+ 17. Kh1 Qf3+ 18. Kg1 e5 19. Ne2 Nxe2+ 20. Bxe2 Rg6+ 21. Kf1 Qh1#] 16... Nh3+ 17. Kg2 Nxf2 18. Rd4 {If Black takes the Rook then pawn takes, Queen takes and perhaps White is holding on. But Bronstein carried on with the attack.} Ng4 19. Rf4 Qxh2+ 20. Kf1 Bxe3 21. Bd5 {Utterly desperate move.} Bxf4

{And White resigned.} *

Now, i really wanted to post this on the day of Bronstein's passing but alas, it didn't work out that way. I did order four of Bronstein's books after i took notice of his death, and got them delivered shortly after. For some reason i just couldn't hold off purchasing them any longer. I got Bronstein On the King's Indian (which i really like to recommend if you're into the KID), Modern Chess Self-Tutor (which seemed to be a very hot purchase shortly after Bronstein died), Zurich International Chess Tournament 1953 (needs no introduction) and finally, Bronstein's Sorcerer's Apprentice. And i'm very happy to have them.

If you're having trouble following the game as i posted it, you can also go over it through your browser here. Hope you enjoy the post. Took me quite a bit of time to get it up. Hope the images will hold...

To me it looks weird with all the A's, but i belong to the Dummies club when it comes to HTML. Does this look familiar to anyone when uploading a picture/image?

I am asking this because i have problems with disappearing pictures/images (as you might have read before). Changing templates didn't solve the problem either. I wonder how long this image will last...

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Rybka parameters (need a little help here)

I just started using the Rybka 2.2 32-bit UCI engine through ChessBase 9 and i was wondering about it's parameters. Should i change anything? Or should i just leave the parameters alone? I am wondering about it's ELO rating in particular, because when you look at the default parameters, it is set at 1200. Does that mean it also analyses as a 1200? The Rybka website's instalation instruction doesn't mention anything about it's parameters :-(

Monday, December 11, 2006

Anybody else experiencing problems?

Is it just me, or are other Blogger users also experiencing problems with uploaded images? Except for the uploaded 'mate in one' wallpapers, none of the images i upload seem to last very long, and all that appears is an empty square with this little red cross in it.

Sunday, December 10, 2006

I've made up my mind

about what to play versus two black openings that annoy me the most when playing 1.e4. Namely the Caro-Kann and the French (who doesn't it annoy?). It has taken me quite some valuable time (which i could've spend a whole lot better) to figure out what i wanted to play, and i'm glad that i have. Because now, i can finally get on with my life ;-)I will no longer make up my mind and switch back and forth between openings as i have done many times before. This time, i am going to STICK with the choices i made.

Anyway, so what am i playing now? Atleast versus the two openings in question. Well, versus the Caro-Kann, i've decided to play (and stick with) a so-called anti Caro-Kann. Anti Caro-Kann!?

Now why didn't i think of that sooner?

So much for a creative mind :-(

Versus the French, i've decided to play it (and stick with) the Tiviakov way. As in the Tarrasch Variation. Ofcourse the Tarrasch can be played a number of ways, but i really like how Tiviakov plays it. He is in fact one of he leading experts as White against the French. You really should check out some of his games.Anyway, the Tarrasch has actually been recommended to me before, but i guess i was checking out the wrong lines, because it didn't appeal to me. Untill i checked out Tiviakov's way :-)

I've allready played a couple of games using my new chosen systems, and the play finally had an appealing effect to me. More then that even. Check out me versus the Caro, and me versus the French. Don't mind too many of the details as both games were played under blitz conditions.

Thursday, November 30, 2006

There's a lesson in all of this

I think (refering to Kramnik overlooking a mate in one). And the lesson is that you shouldn't rely too much on your patern recognition skillz, because apparently patern recognition skillz is what caused Kramnik to overlook the mate in one. If we have to believe chess player, trainer, editor of the Russian chess magazine "64" Alexander Roshal that is... But who am i to argue with an expert?

Alexander told us that the mating pattern that occurred during the game, with the white queen protected by a knight on f8, is extremely rare in chess. It is not one of the patterns that chess grandmasters automatically have in their repertoire. This was confirmed by a GM commentator in Bonn, who after Kramnik's move did not notice that it was a blunder and started discussing White's options – but not the mate in one. Alexander Roshal assured us that, had the white knight somehow moved to g5 or f6, Kramnik would have seen the mate in micro-seconds. The square h7 would have had a big red light blinking on it, Roshal said, because this kind of mate (or mating threat) occurs quite often in chess, and the mating pattern would be firmly anchored in his mind. With the knight in an unusual position the square remained dark and Kramnik simply did not see the danger. (excerpt taken from this article)

Monday, November 13, 2006

So what do you do to protect your blog?

After some surfing on the web for more on this blog hijacking trend (because it doesn't end with just the two blogs i mentioned, it really is a trend), i came to find out that you shouldn't expect much help from Blogger's support service (if there even is such a service) in any such case. I guess that means we'll just gonna have to try to keep from being hijacked. I am thinking of periodically backing up my templates (with change). And in case of a hijacking, i can just create a new account and replace the new templates with the backed up ones. Ok, so i'll lose my pagerank. But is that really such a big deal? I also came across this password generating website. Which offers ultra high security passwords :-)How about using that for a chance of passwords every couple of days or so? Do you think this password generating site is any good?

Oh, and on the subject of chess, i will be posting that Queens Gambit Accepted game from the previous post with commentary anytime soon. I know i said i couldn't in the first place, but i think i'm able to manage after all.